Quote by Baruch Spinoza: “Desire is the very essence of man.”

This quote means that our deepest core, what truly defines us as humans, is our desires. It suggests that our will, our yearnings, and our striving are fundamental to our existence and actions.

In his *Ethics*, Spinoza developed a comprehensive philosophy of affects (emotions). He posited that human actions are fundamentally driven by desires, which are expressions of our inherent striving to persevere in our being (conatus).

Dutch philosopher of Portuguese-Jewish origin whose rationalist philosophy challenged religious orthodoxy and laid foundations for the Enlightenment. His masterwork Ethics, published posthumously in 1677, argued that God and Nature were one and the same substance.